Azamgarh (UP), February 22 Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh's Panchayati Raj Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday claimed that the Samajwadi Party (SP) will return to its 2017 seat tally of 47 in the next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, SP, along with Congress, contested elections on 403 assembly seats of UP, in which SP fielded its candidates on 298 seats and Congress on 105 seats. SP won only 47 seats and Congress won 7.
Addressing the 'Samrasta Maharally' in Azamgarh district — a stronghold of the SP — Om Prakash Rajbhar claimed that their NDA alliance will win all 10 seats here and the Akhilesh Yadav party will return to its 2017 position in 2027 (UP Assembly polls).
The SP had won all Assembly seats in Azamgarh in the 2022 Assembly polls. At the time, there was an alliance between the SBSP and the Akhilesh Yadav party, which later broke down, and Rajbhar rejoined the NDA.
Rajbhar said that the large crowds gathered at Tikuria ground indicate that Azamgarh's politics is about to change, claiming that the huge attendance indicates that the SP's influence is now waning.
However, SBSP national chief spokesperson and Om Prakash Rajbhar's younger son, Arun Rajbhar, launched a scathing attack on BJP's Anil Rajbhar, who is also UP labour minister, calling him a "kaalnemi (a demon) of the society".
UP Transport Minister (Independent Charge) Daya Shankar Singh, who attended the rally, said that the event's success could be gauged from the 12-km-long traffic jam.
He added that by organising such an event in the SP's stronghold, the work of demolishing their fortress had begun, and it would be completely destroyed in the 2027 assembly elections.